Chicago Tribune [1992-09-06]

Chicago Tribune Sunday, September 6, 1992
Section 14 Page 7

$165,000 for an 1894 dime
caps off a spirited auction

By Roger Boye

A California company has
paid $165,000 at auc-
tion for an 1894-S dime
that had been owned by
a suburban Chicago man for
nearly two decades.

The mid-August sale in Orlan-
do, Fla., ranks as one of the big-
gest coin transactions of 1992, a
year that probably will be re-
membered best for its sluggish
rare-coin market.

"We had six hands up at the
$100,000 mark," said Ira M.
Goldberg of Superior Galleries
of Beverly Hills, Calif., which
conducted the auction. "That's
quite good in this market."

The coin's former owner, Rob-
ert DeLand of Elmwood Park,
bought the keepsake in 1974 for
$97,500 to fulfill a lifelong desire
to possess a great American rari-
ty, according to Goldberg.

The San Francisco Mint made
just 24 dimes in 1894, apparently
as gifts for some bankers, and
modern-day records account for
no more than 12 of those coins.

Since February, a group of
dealers called the Professional
Numismatists Guild, Inc., has
been trying to flush out some of
the remaining coins by offering
free trips to the finders.

So far, the PNG has received at
least 5,000 responses to news of
its search, but none of the miss-
ing dimes has turned up. PNG
Executive Director Paul L. Kop-
penhaver said that many people
think they have an 1894-S dime
when they do not.

Still, PNG members are happy
that their efforts brought De-
Land's specimen back to the
market after being stored in a
bank vault for so many years.
The rarity grades "Proof-64," a
category reserved for exceptional-
ly beautiful coins.

The new owner, Spectrum
Numismatics, Inc., of Santa Ana,
Calif., probably would have been
willing to pay at least 10 percent
more for the dime at last
month's auction if the bidding
had gone higher, according to
Greg Roberts of Spectrum.

"We like the coin. It has a
fresh, good story," Roberts said.